Teacher In Hot Water for Degrading Social Media Posts About Students

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (WJZ)– A Baltimore County teacher is facing backlash and disciplinary action, after making inappropriate social media posts about her students. The Instagram posts have now gone viral and many are calling them degrading.

Kelly Forostiak is in hot water, after screenshots taken from her private Instagram were retweeted.

Parents found out through a school letter and now many say the teacher showed a lack of judgment and should be ashamed of her actions. Parents at Deer Park Elementary School are reeling over the Instagram posts of a teacher.

One picture of her students is captioned: “Field day with my little [expletives] that I somehow still love.”

“Calling them that is just a disgrace,” said parent Keema Lee.

In another post, a student wearing a traditional Mexican hat or sombrero- is captioned: “This is an African American Mexican.”

“These are African American kids. What they don’t belong here? That’s racist,” said parent Abby Salami.

WJZ went to Forostiak’s last listed address . Someone was home but did not answer the door.

A Baltimore County Schools spokesperson told WJZ in a statement that “the teacher is extremely remorseful and she fully understands how upsetting her posts were. She also understands that she will face discipline for her actions.”

The children’s faces are not blurred in the original pictures.

“The kids are here to learn not to be called out of their names,” said Lee.

Parents we spoke with told WJZ they warn their children about inappropriate posts on social media and say a teacher should have known better. Abby Beytin with Teacher’s Association of Baltimore County agrees.

“You might think that you have privacy settings that protect you but you don’t and teachers are held to a higher standard because they are role models,” said Beytin.

The school spokesman could not comment on what type of discipline the teacher faces but says she is currently employed. The tweeted Instagram posts showed no dates and it’s not clear who made them public.